Speaker simply can't lead House effectively

Posted: Wednesday, February 06, 2008

If the Republicans in the Georgia legislature had hoped to bring an end to good ol' boy politics in favor of a more businesslike approach to governing the state now that they're in charge, they certainly threw a stumbling block in front of themselves when they elected state Rep. Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram, as speaker of the House three years ago.

As the first Republican to hold the post in more than 130 years, Richardson has wasted no time in establishing cronyism, with a healthy dollop of intimidation on top, as his modus operandi in the speaker's chair.

The latest example of the speaker's "leadership" style was on display last week, as he began exacting revenge against GOP House colleagues who dared to counter his wishes in connection with elections to the Department of Transportation board. Richardson unceremoniously stripped them of committee leadership posts and, in one case, banished a recalcitrant legislator from a Capitol office to a legislative office building across the street.

Never mind, of course, that the legislators targeted by the speaker had cast principled ballots in the election, opting to retain Forsyth County developer Mike Evans, the incumbent DOT board chairman, instead of backing Richardson's candidate, former state Rep. Stacey Reece. Two years ago, while he was serving in the House, the ethically challenged Reece saw nothing wrong with having lobbyists hosting an engagement party for him and his betrothed.

Evans, of course, had committed the cardinal sin - in Richardson's eyes, anyway - of backing Gena Abraham, an accomplished professional engineer with considerable experience in state government, to head the DOT. Richardson's choice to head the state's transportation agency had been state Rep. Vance Smith, R-Pine Mountain, chair of the House Transportation Committee. Abraham was the board's eventual choice for the post of DOT commissioner.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with being a strong advocate, as Richardson was in connection with the DOT board and commissioner posts. There is, however, something wrong with exacting the small-minded revenge that Richardson exacted, in that it served to show there may be no level to which Richardson will not stoop when things fail to break his way. And vindictiveness is not leadership; it's not even an acceptable tool for exercising leadership.

In remarks on the House floor Tuesday, state Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, the legislator thrown out of his office for defying Richardson, called the events of recent days "a low point and dark day in the history of the House," and added, "This is the time and this is the place to put principle over politics ... (I)t's time to lead, Mr. Speaker."

Sadly, Richardson has shown he simply isn't capable of real leadership. And if he remains in the speaker's chair in next year's legislative session, his House colleagues also will have shown that they can't exercise any leadership, either.

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A spellbinding win: Two middle schoolers gave a bit of a scare to organizers of Tuesday's Clarke County School District Spelling Bee, facing off in a back-and-forth final round that stretched close to the end of the official word list.

In the end, the district honors went to Hilsman Middle eighth-grader Cathy Deng, who correctly spelled "electrolyte" after Clarke Middle's Ainee Jeong stumbled over "deductible," according to school district spokesman Mike Wooten. Along the way to the final word, the girls went through "trachea," "hypertrophic," and "gargantuan."

Third place in the spelling bee, which featured the champion spellers from the district's 13 elementary and four middle schools, went to Whit Davis Elementary fifth-grader Sean Zhang.

Deng now heads to the regional Georgia Association of Educators Spelling Bee, scheduled for Feb. 23 in Eatonton, which precedes the state spelling bee scheduled for later this year at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Congratulations, Cathy, and best of luck later this month in Eatonton. Congratulations, too, to Ainee and Sean, and to all the participants in the district spelling bee.